Workers at Telkom will strike on into next week after unions walked away from talks to end the latest in a round of damaging industrial disputes.
Employees at Telkom, Africa’s biggest fixed-line operator, began a two-day strike on Monday after a month of sometimes violent protests that saw tens of thousands of miners and municipal workers downing tools and taking to the streets.
The municipal workers and others came to terms last week, but the protests have challenged newly elected President Jacob Zuma’s authority and led to pay deals of nearly double inflation that economists say may trouble an economy now in recession.
The Communications Workers’ Union (CWU), representing 44 000 employees, said more than 9 000 Telkom workers would return to work on Wednesday, but would resume industrial action on Friday and Tuesday of next week.
”The union has also taken the decision to embark on a complete and national stayaway on August 7 and 11,” CWU general secretary Gallant Roberts told Reuters, saying that negotiations have failed.
Maintenance of telephone and internet lines and cable repairs may be affected, Roberts said.
In a statement, Telkom said about 1 600 took part in the strike, and that it was committed to reducing wage disparities while also ensuring the sustainability of the company and job security. The group said it was investigating acts of vandalism and sabotage during the strike.
The union is demanding that Telkom first move employees to higher pay scales before implementing a 7,5% wage increase. Telkom has agreed to the increase but based on the old pay scale.
The strikes — part of a regular season of pay disputes in July and August in South Africa — are the first time the unions who brought Zuma to power have flexed their muscles since elections in April.
Pressure on the government has also come from poor township residents, demonstrating for better living conditions for millions of black South Africans, who still lack adequate housing, electricity and water 15 years after the end of apartheid. — Reuters